On a night that featured exactly 100 points and over 1,000 yards of total offense, the Milford High School football team came out on top, winning a wild 52-48 contest over Norwood on Friday night. Senior Chase Witte had an unbelievable performance in just his second start at quarterback as he totaled 281 yards on the ground and four touchdowns, while also adding a pair of scores through the air. His performance was part of a 449 rushing yards performance for the Eagles.
While Witte was nearly unstoppable, fellow Milford (1-2) senior Dawson Slone was also outstanding, finishing the night with 168 yards of his own, along with one touchdown. Norwood (2-1) quarterback Matt Goodman also put up big numbers, completing 14 of 26 passes for 274 yards and three touchdowns, while also rushing for 191 yards and four touchdowns.
The night started off with a scare for the Eagles as they fumbled the opening kickoff and promptly watched as Goodman connected with Jihad Key for a 35-yard score on the game’s second snap. But Milford refused to be rattled as they moved right down the field to tie the game on a Witte eight-yard scamper. The first touchdown seemingly opened the floodgates for the Milford offense as they rattled off 28 consecutive points. Witte had a hand in all four of the scores with TD passes to Dax Creager and Max Brewer sandwiched around the fleet-footed senior’s second rushing score.
While it appeared the Eagles were in control up by 21, the momentum then swung the way of the Indians as they ripped off back-to-back touchdowns to claw right back into the contest. First, Casey Ragle recovered his own fumble in the end zone, before Goodman got loose on a 63-yard quarterback keeper to draw Norwood within 28-21. Milford fired the final shot of the half with under a minute to go on Dillon Colerman’s 28-yard field goal.
The second half was full of more points and offensive fireworks with long quarterback runs by each squad’s signal callers accounting for all the third quarter points. Witte found the end zone first, racing 58 yards for his third score, but Goodman countered just over five minutes later when he jaunted 70 yards to paydirt.
The Eagles seemed to put themselves in a comfortable position early in the fourth as they went up 45-28 on Witte’s fourth TD run, this one from three yards out. But all of the sudden, Norwood repeated its first half script, scoring two quick touchdowns to once again make it a one score game. Goodman found a wide-open Ollohjowon Wellington for a 62-yard bomb for the first score and then bolted in from three yards out following an interception to trim the deficit to 45-42.
Needing one final drive to close the game out, the Eagles collectively showed the heart of a champion as they took 5:42 off the clock with a 10-play, 65-yard drive that ended with just 39 seconds on the clock. Riding the legs of Witte and Slone all the way down the field, the Eagles threw the final haymaker with Slone bulling in from three yards out for the score. Goodman closed out the night’s scoring with an 18-yard rush as time expired.
Milford finished the track meet of a game with a slight 518-501 advantage in total offense, doing most of its damage with the 449 rushing yards. Norwood achieved a near perfect rush-pass balance, rushing for 227 yards and passing for 274.
Click here for the final Milford-Norwood game stats.
Milford will return to the gridiron next week for the start of another season of Eastern Cincinnati Conference action when the Eagles travel to Turpin.